


breakfast in the park.

by pyroallerdyce



Series: captured moments. [12]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, One Shot Collection, Professor Ben Solo, Short One Shot, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:47:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22743502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyroallerdyce/pseuds/pyroallerdyce
Summary: Rey spotted a bench and headed towards it, and they settled down onto it.  “Thank you for agreeing to do this with me, Ben.  I thought it would be nice.”“It is nice,” Ben said, exchanging one of the boxes he was carrying for one of the cups that Rey had.  “I was going to suggest this small, and I mean small, place over by my apartment for breakfast.  I've never really been there, but my grandparents go there for breakfast all the time so it's been highly recommended.”or:  Ben and Rey have breakfast in the park.  But first, they need to get their coffee and pastries, and that involves coming face to face with Armitage Hux.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: captured moments. [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602691
Comments: 10
Kudos: 58





	breakfast in the park.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry this has taken so long but I've literally had a migraine for a week and I just couldn't write. My headache is only marginally better but I absolutely was going insane so I pushed myself through it. If this is absolute shit, my sincerest apologies in advance. Hopefully it's not though.
> 
> And as always, if you do happen to like what you read, please let me know via a comment or kudos or bookmark so that I know I'm not writing into a void. enjoy!

“Ben Solo and a girl! I thought I'd never see this again!” was yelled out the moment they walked into Coruscant, and it took all of Ben's self-control not to just walk over to the counter and punch Armitage then and there. 

“Morning, Hux,” Rey called out before he could say a thing, taking Ben's hand and leading him over to the display case. “Come on, let's get something sweet to eat with our coffee.”

Ben glanced over his shoulder to see Armitage grinning at him like an idiot, and he quickly turned his attention back to Rey. “How about you pick it out for us? I'm good with anything.”

Rey rolled her eyes. “No, you are picking out your own pastry. What pastry you pick tells a lot about a person.”

“Oh, it does, does it?” Ben asked, suddenly terrified of picking the wrong pastry. “Seriously, Rey, just pick for me.”

Rey studied him for a moment. “There is no wrong pastry for you to pick, Ben,” she eventually said. “So pick what you want and I will tell you what I think that I've learned about you from it.”

Ben took a deep breath and turned his attention to the display case, looking over everything on offer. He vetoed the doughnuts immediately, thought about a cheese danish, and then settled upon one of the large cinnamon rolls. “That,” he said, pointing to the cinnamon rolls. “I want one of those.”

Rey grinned at him. “So do I.”

“You can get something else, Rey,” Ben said. “You don't have to get what I'm getting.”

“I'm not!” Rey exclaimed. “I always get one of those.”

Ben was not convinced, but Armitage approached them before he could say anything. “Solo! What's up, man? I haven't seen you in forever!”

“Been busy. Rey, do you know what you want to order?” Ben said, trying to steer the conversation away from where it was going next.

“Fuck that for the moment,” Armitage declared. “This is a tremendous development. I didn't really believe Snap when he told me about it.”

Ben closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “You're talking to Snap again?”

“Yeah, Phasma locked us in a room and told us to stop acting like we were in grade school, and well, what Phasma says, I do.”

“How is Phasma?” Rey asked, and Ben's eyes flew open. “I haven't heard from her in a couple of weeks.”

“She's swamped with work at the moment,” Armitage said. “She hasn't even had time to come in here for lunch. I'm only seeing her when I bring over dinner at night.”

Rey smiled. “You ask her to move in with you yet?”

“No,” Armitage said, shaking his head. “I just don't feel like now is the right time.”

“It's the right time,” Rey said, nodding. “Trust me on that.”

“Then I will take that into consideration,” Armitage replied. “But let's not bury the lede here. You are here with Ben Solo, and Ben Solo is never anywhere with a girl at any time. What's up?”

“Hux,” Ben started, but Rey just smiled at him.

“Ben and I are having breakfast in the park so we came in for coffee and pastries,” Rey said, squeezing Ben's hand. “And that's all you're getting out of us.”

“That's bullshit,” Armitage said before sighing. “But fine. You better tell Phasma what's up then.”

“I'll consider it,” Rey said. “I want my usual. Ben wants a cinnamon roll too, and what kind of latte do you want, Ben?”

Ben looked up at the menu while he tried to shove his confusion at how Armitage was actually listening to Rey out of his mind. “Um, how about a Finalizer? I've never had one of those before.”

“That is an excellent choice,” Armitage said, opening up the display case and calling out their drink order to another employee. “Coffee will be up in a moment, but let me get these cinnamon rolls for you.”

“Thanks, Hux,” Rey said, smiling at him. “So, tell me how the band is.”

Armitage groaned. “The band is not doing well, I think. We're having problems getting gigs at the moment.”

“You should talk to my boss then. He's looking to have bands come in later at night after the dinner rush has died down and sort of have an open mike kind of thing,” Rey said, and that was the first Ben had heard of that.

“Poe's thinking of doing that?”

“Yep,” Rey said. “He's been asking us if there's anyone we think he should bring in for it, and I'll suggest the band to him if you want, Hux.”

“I would very much appreciate that,” Armitage said, setting two boxes on the counter. “I'll ring you up and you can tell me more about this restaurant. I didn't even know you were working at a restaurant.”

Rey followed Armitage over to the cash register so Ben grabbed the boxes and wandered over there. Rey paid for their breakfast before Ben could bring up the fact that he wanted to, and then two cups were being set on the counter and Rey was saying goodbye to Armitage, and once they were out of the shop, Ben was completely perplexed by what had just happened.

Rey had said that she'd handle Armitage, but he had not been anticipating any of that. 

“What just happened?” was out of his mouth before he could stop it, and Rey laughed.

“I told you I could handle Hux,” Rey said, nodding towards the park. “Let's go sit down.”

Ben followed her when she began to walk. “So you know Hux pretty well then? And Phasma too from the sounds of it.”

“Yeah, Phasma's an old roommate of mine,” Rey explained. “I know her and Hux through that. Hux is the reason I go to Coruscant for coffee. It's not because it's close to my apartment.”

That's when Ben realized they were on the complete other side of town to where Rey's apartment was, which was something he really should have noticed since he'd picked Rey up and driven them to the coffee shop.

Was he just completely out of it this morning or something?

“How do you know Hux?” Rey asked as they crossed the street.

“Hux was my roommate in the dorms when I was a student,” Ben said. “It's a love-hate relationship. Mostly hate.”

Rey laughed. “Hux isn't that bad.”

“Yes, he is,” Ben said, shaking his head. “He likes to torture me more than Snap does, and you saw how eager Snap was to embarrass me. I can't even begin to express my surprise at the fact that you got him not to do that today.”

Rey laughed again. “I told you, I can handle Hux. I'd just tell Phasma if he did that to us and she would kill him for it. And he knows that.”

Ben was the one who laughed that time. “The fact that you have that kind of control over Hux is amazing.”

“Phasma's the one with the control, not me,” Rey said as they walked down the path. “But knowing that is helpful from time to time.”

Rey spotted a bench and headed towards it, and they settled down onto it. “Thank you for agreeing to do this with me, Ben. I thought it would be nice.”

“It is nice,” Ben said, exchanging one of the boxes he was carrying for one of the cups that Rey had. “I was going to suggest this small, and I mean small, place over by my apartment for breakfast. I've never really been there, but my grandparents go there for breakfast all the time so it's been highly recommended.”

“Well, we should go sometime then,” Rey said, setting her cup on the bench and opening up the box. “These are the best cinnamon rolls ever.”

“I can't say I've ever had one,” Ben said. “Not from Coruscant at least. My mother makes extremely good cinnamon rolls from scratch.”

Rey smiled. “She makes them from scratch? My mother used to do that.”

“Used to?” Ben asked, and Rey froze. “Fuck, I did it again, didn't I?”

Rey took a deep breath and pulled a piece off of her roll. “I should really tell you about it. But I don't want to ruin how peaceful this is.”

“I wouldn't judge you if that's what you're worried about.”

“It's not that. It's that I'd get very upset and I don't want to do that right now.”

“Then we'll just continue without talking about it,” Ben said, pulling a piece off his roll as well. “Can I talk about how much I don't want to teach my classes this afternoon?”

Rey took a long sip of her coffee and nodded. “That is a very safe subject, but yes, you can talk about that.”

“I know it's a safe subject, but talking to you about my frustrations with my students goes so much better than me talking to anyone else about it. You just let me talk instead of just telling me to suck it up and deal with it.”

“I will always let you talk about it,” Rey said, nodding. “So, you don't want to teach your classes this afternoon. I thought that these were your better students.”

“They are, but that doesn't mean that they're any good,” Ben said, eating some more of his roll. “I have to give them an exam today about _Heart of Darkness_ and it's not going to go well.”

“I'm sure it will go better than you think,” Rey said. “And I've never heard of _Heart of Darkness_. Who wrote it?”

“ _Heart of Darkness_ was written by Joseph Conrad in 1899. It's a reflection on corruptive European colonialism and a journey into the nightmare psyche of one of the corrupted. It's considered one of the most influential works ever written.”

“Maybe I should make that the next one I buy then,” Rey said, smiling at him. 

“I'll just let you borrow my copy once I'm done with teaching it,” Ben said, smiling back. “If you want.”

“I'd like that a lot.”

“Then I'll let you know when I'm done teaching it.”

Rey turned her attention back to her food. “So, what should we do next?”

“Meaning?” Ben asked, confused.

“Our next date, of course. What should we do?”

Ben smiled at the thought of another date. “Well, what do you want to do?”

“I planned this date. You plan the next one,” Rey said, smiling at him. 

“Hm, what to do then,” Ben mused. “We could go to a movie.”

“Depends on whether or not I can get a night off,” Rey pointed out, “but a movie isn't a bad idea. What movie though?”

“I have no idea. I don't even know what's out right now. I never go to the movies.”

“Then what's your favorite movie?”

“ _Lord of the Rings_ ,” Ben said automatically. “I consider it all one movie.”

Rey laughed. “That's one very long movie. Theatrical or extended editions?”

“Extended. I don't even own the theatrical ones. And how did you know there are extended editions?”

“Because _Lord of the Rings_ is my favorite movie trilogy of all time,” Rey said seriously. “And yes, they are one film, and yes, extended editions is the right answer.”

Ben took another bite of his roll before speaking. “You're a Tolkien fan.”

“Only of the movies,” Rey replied. “I've never actually read the books.”

“Then you're reading those books before you get to _Heart of Darkness_ ,” Ben said firmly. “You cannot be a fan of the films and not have read the books. That's just not acceptable.”

Rey nodded. “Then I'll get the books.”

“You can borrow mine,” Ben said. “Or, well, the copies of mine that I'll let someone touch. My collector's editions do not leave my bookshelves.”

“Collector's editions?”

“Mint condition copies from the sixties,” Ben said proudly. “I want first editions, but fuck, those are expensive. Someday I'll have the money to get them, but for now, it's these ones.”

“Mint condition copies?” Rey asked in amazement. “Wow.”

“I know, I'm a complete nerd,” Ben said, slightly embarrassed. “I love books more than anything. It's a problem.”

“That's not a problem,” Rey admonished. “Books are wonderful things to love.”

“Yeah, well, when you don't love anything else, it's a problem.”

“Then you just need something else to love,” Rey said, reaching out and taking Ben's hand in hers. 

Ben swallowed hard. “I don't know if I'm capable of that.”

Rey squeezed his hand. “You'll never know if you don't try. And I think the fact that you're here with me means that you're willing to try.”

Ben took a long sip of coffee before looking over at her, seeing nothing but acceptance and excitement on Rey's face. “Yes,” he said quietly. “I'm willing to try. I just don't know if I can do it.”

“I will do everything I can do to help you accomplish it,” Rey said softly. “Because I'd really like it if we can get there someday. You're amazing, Ben. I've never met a guy like you before.”

Ben took a deep breath. “I've never met a woman like you before either. That's why I am doing this with you even though I'm terrified.”

Rey set her food and coffee to the side and reached out to caress Ben's face. “Don't be terrified,” she murmured. “I'll make sure that things are okay.”

Ben went to speak but Rey captured his lips in a deep kiss. He turned his body towards her as the kiss continued, and when the kiss broke, Ben noticed that his pants were wet. He looked down and noticed his coffee spilled down his lap and the rest of his cinnamon roll on the ground. 

The laughter was escaping his lips before he could stop it. “I didn't even notice I did that.”

Rey smiled at him. “I guess I must have distracted you.”

Ben shook his head. “It was a nice distraction though.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to go now? I can't imagine sitting here in wet pants is something you want to do,” Rey said.

“Yeah, that might be a good idea,” Ben replied. “There is still a bit of chill in the air this morning.”

“But it's better than it has been. Spring is definitely upon us,” Rey said, grabbing her cup and standing up. “I think we passed a trashcan on our walk here. We'll just throw this stuff out and then go back to your car.”

Ben gathered up the spilled cup and box and stood. “I'm sorry that our breakfast in the park is being cut short.”

“It's alright,” Rey said, smiling at him. “We'll just have to do it again.”

“I'd like that,” Ben said as they started to walk. 

They made small talk on their way out of the park and then Ben drove Rey back to her apartment. She gave him another deep kiss before getting out of the car, and as Ben drove towards his apartment, he couldn't stop thinking about their conversation. 

He was going to try to love something other than books. He wanted to love something other than books. Rey wanted him to love something other than books.

Rey wanted him to love her and she wanted to love him back.

Teaching that afternoon was going to be torturous at best, but Ben was pretty sure that nothing was going to take the smile off his face.


End file.
